Community Connection
Hundreds of Guyanese-Canadians filled Elite Banquet Hall on Sunday, April 2 to commemorate the lives of the late former Presidents of Guyana – Cheddi and Janet Jagan.
With March 6 marking two decades since Cheddi Jagan’s death, and March 28 marking the 8th anniversary of Janet Jagan’s passing, The Jagans Commemorative Committee organized the event to honour the lives and legacies of the Guyanese power couple.
Former president and Dr Cheddi Jagan’s running mate in the 1992 election, Samuel Hinds, attended to deliver the keynote address. Hinds spent the time fondly remembering the Jagans and their philosphies.
“Cheddi took every opportunity to speak with young people and challenge them to think of big problems. He thought of things on a wider scale than just Guyana,” Hinds explained. “They truly held to the view that all men and women are created equal and meant to live together as brothers and sisters.”
Born on a sugar plantation in British Guiana, Cheddi Jagan travelled to the United States for school where he met and fell in love with Janet Rosenberg, fondly remembered as the “Blue-eyed Bougie.” The two married and travelled back to Guyana in 1943 and shortly after, began to work tirelessly on behalf of the working class in order to alleviate poverty in the South American country.
In 1946, the pair co-founded the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which promoted Marxist ideals and encouraged the country’s decolonization from the United Kingdom. Though the Jagans were imprisoned for six months in 1954, the resilient leaders continued to express their political views and Dr. Jagan was eventually elected president in 1992. Following Cheddi Jagan’s death in 1997, Hinds took office as acting president before Janet Jagan was elected as the first female President of Guyana.
The event featured tributes from a number of the Jagan’s close friends and family, including their daughter, Nadira Jagan-Brancier, and granddaughter Natasha Brancier.
Speaking of her grandparents, Brancier noted that, despite their busy schedules, they always made time for family.
“Some of my fondest memories of my grandparents is them taking us to the zoo. They made time,” she recounted. Brancier also noted that though their interests did not always align, her grandmother paid attention to what was important to them and made an effort to understand.
Jagan-Brancier spoke about the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre in Guyana, stating that, in December 2016, the centre was notified that their lease of Red House was revoked. The research centre appealed the case and the next court date is set for April 12.
Though the research centre may be forced to relocate, Jagan-Brancier pointed the audience to the petition on jagan.org to keep the centre in Red House. She went on to state that, “The Cheddi Jagan Research Centre will live on, just as the memories of my parents [do].”
The afternoon was filled with tributes, memories, performances and speeches honouring the founding father and mother of the nation – a pair that will not be soon forgotten.
Do you know any South Asian heart
attack or stroke survivors?
If so, please ask them to join Heart & Stroke’s South Asian Survivor Network!
At Heart & Stroke, we want to increase our knowledge and understanding of stroke and heart disease recovery and be better informed of our future direction in the creation of recovery-based resources, programs and services for our heart disease and stroke survivors. In order for us to be survivor-centric – we will soon begin first phase of engagement with South Asian survivors and their care givers/partners.
While survivors face many barriers and challenges in coping with the disease and better managing their lives after a heart attack or stroke – we are interested in hearing their stories and wanting to confirm what the literature is telling us: that the psychosocial support an individual receives is co-related to their ability to recover and self-manage their condition.
For this we need your help! We need you to connect us to South Asian survivors and their care-givers/partners in your communities and have them join our South Asian Survivor Network and have them participate in one of our survivor focus groups to be held in the GTA this summer. Results from these focus groups will be shared with all of you and also help inform Heart & Stroke’s Promote Recovery Strategy.
Please help us recruit South Asian heart disease and stroke survivors and their care givers/partners to start engaging them on this important dialogue.
YOU connecting us to them would take us a step forward in understanding and listening to what OUR SURVIVORS truly need and help them RECOVER and self-manage their health!
Contact: FIRDAUS ALI, South Asian Cultural Specialist, Ontario, Heart & Stroke C: 416-629-1689 firdaus.ali@heartandstroke.ca
Abstract from Canada.
Dr Rambihar presented this at the recent American College of Cardiology Congress in Washington, DC, where she received an award for the highest ranking abstract submitted from Canada, from the President of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Dr Cathy Kells.
Dr Rambihar has been active in health promotion in the community, giving lectures and has done pioneering research on ethnicity and diversity health. She has a particular interest in women's heart health and in echocardiography, and is co-author of a landmark Editorial in the American Heart Journal in 2010, marking the 50th Anniversary of the first report of excess and premature heart disease across the Indian diaspora, with ideas for prevention.
Book launch of Stephen Gowans' Washington's Long War on Syria will take place on Thursday, April 27 at 7pm at A Different Booklist Cultural Centre, 777-779 Bathurst St, Toronto. In this volume, Cowans examines the decades long struggle of Ba'ath Arab Socialists, political Islamists, and US imperialists for control of Syria, the last redoubt of secular Arab nationalism. "Gowans' book is a timely and indispensable resource for those seeking to understand recent events in Syria" Eva Bartlett.
For info, call:416-538-0889 or 416-901-7720.
